


Small Hours

by machinewithoutfeelings



Series: When You Wish Upon a Star Destroyer [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Babies, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Loss of Limbs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7535101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machinewithoutfeelings/pseuds/machinewithoutfeelings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is probably the first decent night's sleep Hux has had since their son was dropped into their lives. Of course it cannot go uninterrupted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Hours

_Braaaaaaynk! Braaaaaaynk! Braaaaaaynk! ...Wahhhhhhhhh!!!_

Hux's comlink vibrated with fury on his bedside table as it simultaneously ripped him from the first decent night's sleep he had had in months. The trill of Ren's alert sound was quickly answered by a rising cry from the crib a few feet away. 

“Fuck, Ren,” Hux said, throwing back his sheets and dragging himself to his feet. He snapped his comlink on his wrist and hit answer as he made his way to pick up Wil. Scooping the six month-old into his arms and immediately bouncing him the way he liked, Hux leaned down to speak into his wristlet. “If you are calling for dirty talk I am going to murder you.” 

“There has been an incident,” an unfamiliar voice replied back to him. 

Hux felt something in his heart drop out, a feeling like falling in a dream. Wil still cried against his side, but for a moment Hux could hardly hear it- everything felt muffled and warped.

“This is Aizor Ren,” the voice clarified.

Hux tried twice to speak, only getting words out on the third try. “Ren. Kylo Ren, where- what incident?”

There was a scream in the background, rage-filled and familiar and assuring. It wasn't a weak scream or the scream of a dying man. Warmth filled Hux like hot caf after stepping in from a chilled, drizzling day on Arkanis. Worry could come later, and he wasn't exactly worried- if Ren was alive, he would live. Hux had seen him at his worst. “What is going on?”

“You have to sit still,” another voice said, guttural and firm. “Master, you have to let me apply the bandage.”

“I don't want anyone touching it!” Ren shouted. He sounded absolutely livid, and fractious, and Hux wished that he was wherever they were, because he knew that he could get Ren to shut up and _take the damn bandage_. There was a moment's pause in the kerfuffle. “Is that him? Give it to me!” There was some shuffling, which Hux assumed was an exchange of the comlink, then, finally, Ren's voice, much closer. 

“I hope you weren't all that fond of my right hand, Hux. The- _fuck, I thought I said not to touch it! _”__

“We are en route back to the _Finalizer_ ,” Aizor Ren said. “Please alert your medical staff. Master Ren will likely need immediate surgery.”

“Of course,” Hux said. _His right hand_. Was it injured badly or completely gone? “Is that the extent of his injuries, or do I need them to prep for anything else?” 

“That's about it.” Aizor Ren lowered her voice. “Besides his pride. I will alert you as soon as we dock.”

“Thank you,” Hux said. “And- and Ren-” He had words he wanted to say, but he could not bring himself to spit them out with the crowd of Knights that he knew were also all audience to the call. “Ren, I- I will be waiting for you upon arrival.”

“I know,” Ren said, and his voice as taken on a softer quality, though it was still obvious he spoke through gritted teeth. “I know. Give my love to Wil. I hear him.”

“You woke him,” Hux said. 

“I didn't know he slept.” Ren laughed hoarsely before transmission was cut off. Hux looked down at Wil in his arms.

“Your papa has gotten himself into a mess,” said Hux.

“Ay bah bah bah,” said Wil.

Right. Hux messaged down to the medbay that Lord Ren would be arriving shortly, and gave a brief summary of what he knew the injuries to be. That is, hand lopped off. Gone. No more. The thing is, Hux had been fond of that hand. It was very talented. Was. It wouldn't be doing Hux much good independent of Ren's body. 

Hux grabbed the black cross-body satchel he used for baby things and stocked it with bottles, formula, diapers, toys. He didn't know how long they would be in medical. For a moment he thought about alerting Elita, Wil's nanny, but it was 0100. It would be more reasonable to let her sleep to her normal hour so she would be alert and ready when Hux needed her in the morning. It was bound to be a very long night indeed.

* * *

Hux had a pathway cleared before Ren arrived, so that no one would see him so obviously injured. He stood alone as the ship landed, save for the child in his arms. 

Ren strode out of the ship upright, and on his own, but Hux could see the defeat in his posture. The slumped shoulders, the slight imbalance in his walk. It made Hux wish that he was not flanked by all the Knights of Ren, because Hux wanted nothing more than to surround Ren with his presence right now. Nuzzle into the space under his chin. Let him know how proud he was.

Instead, he gave a formal nod to greet his lover, the person everyone here knew was his lover, the other father to the child dozing against his shoulder.

“You're so uptight, you idiot,” Ren murmured, getting into his space, gripping his one remaining hand against the small of Hux's back. He drew Hux into a tender kiss, careful not to jostle the sleeping child. Then he dropped a soft kiss on Wil's head.

Hux felt his face flush warm. “I was worried about the extent of your injuries,” he said. “You seem better than you sounded on com.” Hux could see now that it was not just the hand, but seemingly the whole of the arm gone. _His whole arm_. Hux tried to stare, or show the involuntary shiver of horror the thought gave him.

“They _drugged_ me,” Ren said, his voice growing somewhat darker, but sounding somewhat more pathetic, as if he was trying to sound angry but couldn't quite stick the landing. “They think I cannot handle the pain.”

“ _We_ cannot handle _you_ ,” one Knight said, the shortest one, with a mask like a cage of jagged teeth. “We drugged you to make you stop being so rude. You're a terrible ass when you're injured.”

Ren pouted toward them, then leaned his head against Hux's shoulder, which left him face to face with Wil. He was staring at the child intensely, and Hux watched as Ren's expression slowly changed from mild annoyance to deep despair. 

“I can't even hold my boy,” Ren wailed. The cry was startlingly loud, and Hux darted a look over his shoulder to make sure that no one was around, seeing this.

“ _Calm yourself_ ,” Hux said, embarrassed but stroking his hair all the same. “You're just emotional because you've been drugged. We'll get you fitted for a proper prosthetic soon enough. Medical staff has already located a suitable temporary one. When we order you something top-of-the-line, you'll probably like it better than your original arm.” He needed to get Ren to the medbay right away, and put under sedation immediately. He couldn't chance anyone seeing him like this.

* * *

“He'll never remember my original arm,” said Ren, still in the midst of painkillers.

“Oh, for kriff's sakes,” Hux said. “I hardly think that matters.” 

It had been a long night. A long night and a long morning. Hux had never thought to see his son bounced on the knee of a monster of a man wearing a helmet with chrome inlay that made it look more like wearing a skull, but that had happened. Cinthus Ren had also sung to Wil, happily, in some alien language that Hux did not recognize. It would have been one of the strangest sights Hux had ever seen if he wasn't too busy watching his Kylo Ren, heavily sedated, have a new, temporary arm attached. A base had been permanently wired into him, and the arm could be switched out when they had received a more custom model. Ren would be getting the very best the galaxy had to offer. 

“Come lay with me.” 

Hux felt like he almost shouldn't. Ren was acting so soppy that he thought it might be better to just leave for a while and let him sleep it off, lest he do something embarrassing that he couldn't take back. He found himself crawling onto the bed, though, spooning into Ren, and when exactly had he become so soft? Ren gave a pleased sigh as Hux slotted his body in next to his, and Hux remembered.

“You're a lot of trouble,” Hux said, and when he spoke, he spoke into the skin of Ren's neck. Ren rolled his body back, pushing against Hux. It was a comforting feeling, one Hux had missed in his bed the last few nights. He wrapped his arms around Ren, carefully, and kissed the back of his head.

“I'm sorry,” Ren said, and he sounded truly repentant. It had to be the drugs.

“I knew how much trouble you were when I first got involved with you. I'm as much to blame.” His words were dripping with fondness, he knew. It was all stored up from days without Ren, and now came pouring out along with his relief that he still had him here to lie close to in the night. Or, the early morning. It was past time that he should be out on duty, and Hux knew that he would have to leave soon. He sighed, reaching up and stroking Ren's hair. “It is awful about your arm, Ren. I realize that sounds like I'm minimizing the situation, but I don't know how to- I'm not great at comforting.” He kissed the skin of Ren's shoulder, right above where his bandages began.

“It'sna jah tharm,” Ren mumbled, words muffled against the pillow. 

“What?”

Ren sighed and rolled over so that he was face to face with Hux. He was careful when moving the his injured side. “It's not just the arm,” he said. “It's more than that.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head down. Hux could see his eyelashes flutter against pale skin, and he saw wetness trapped between them. “I've never before fought with so much to lose.”

“What do you mean?”

Ren looked back up at Hux, and yes, his eyes _were_ on the verge of being filled with tears. “I've come close to death many times before, and it never frightened me. The thought of not being able to come home to you, come home to Wil- I think it compromised me completely.” Hux could hear the shame in Ren's voice, like he thought himself a disappointment. To himself, maybe. But not to Hux.

“You're wrong,” he said, and Ren's head tilted.

“Wrong about what?”

“It didn't compromise you,” Hux said, and he kissed Ren's wet cheek. They were becoming far too sentimental- the Hux of two years ago would be disgusted at this display for sure. He was kissing Ren's tears away. But he couldn't help it. Ren was here, warm in his arms, and Hux couldn't let himself think about the fact that it could have easily gone another way. “You weren't compromised. You're here, aren't you? You came back to us. I think that Wil and- and myself, we can be a point of focus for you. You're not allowed to lose in battle. Because you belong to us.”

Ren still did not look very cheered. “But how can I be assured of my victories now?” he asked, and it was a more a whine. “I am missing a limb. This new one feels so awkward and strange. I don't know how I'm going to be able to fight with it.”

“It's not so bad,” Hux said. “I mean, you're hardly in bad company.”

“Hmm?”

Hux was regretting the words even before he spoke them. He had to have reached his tenderness limit for the day, hadn't he? It was a compulsion. He had to do something, say something, say anything to make Ren feel a little better. “I mean, Darth Vader was missing multiple limbs, and look at him. He was one of the greatest dark Force-users that ever lived.”

For some reason, Hux continued.

“In fact, I think you may even become more powerful after this.”

Ren was just staring at him with wide eyes. Hux _thought_ that it was helping? Maybe? Ren was no giving any clear indication, just looking blankly at him like some sort of stunned animal.

“You're carrying on his legacy in a way. I think he'd be- I think he would be proud.”

“Oh, _Hux._ ”

Ren launched himself at Hux, who could not protest before he was assaulted with an array of kisses across the face. They were of the sloppy, unsophisticated variety, and Hux was forced to put a hand on either side of Ren's face to pull him away.

“You really do love me,” Ren said.

“I've told you that,” Hux said. “It's not a surprise.”

“But I can feel it,” Ren said. He patted his chest a few times. “In here.” 

“You are still drugged.”

“Barely,” Ren said, and he slid his head from Hux's grasp and let it fall to his shoulder, where he snuggled in nicely. “Stay with me, Hux. I'm injured.”

“I can't,” Hux said, but he made no move to untangle himself from Ren just yet. He had the kind of morning, under-the-covers warmth emanating him from him that was just too nice to leave. Hux knew that he would have to pull himself away like ripping off a bandage, because otherwise he would never be able to leave. “I have to be on the bridge, and I would like to go check on our son before I get out there.”

“Our _son_ ,” Ren said with a sigh, and Hux knew that he was beginning to fall asleep. It would be best to do it now, before Ren was properly out; he slept like a rock and if he draped himself over Hux, he might never get out. 

“Good night,” Hux murmured, slipping out under his arms and moving to the edge of the bed. He leaned back over and kissed Ren on the forehead. “Get rest, and heal. We're not done with you yet.”

**Author's Note:**

> follow me at [machinewithoutfeelings](http://www.machinewithoutfeelings.tumblr.com)


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